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OUR rOLITICAL rRACnCE 




There is no society without jacobins ; no free society -without a formidable ho?t 
of them ; and no democracy whose powers they will not usuip ; — 

To lessen the hopes of usurping demagogues, we must enlighten, animate, and 
combine the spirit of freemen ; — Fisher Ames. 



IN THREE PARTS, 

i>A.R.T FIRST". 



B S T O N : 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STRXFT. 

1864. 



\ 



-A 



THE 



1 

USURPATIONS OF VICE \ 



THROUGH THE 



POPULAR NEGLIGENCE. 



BY MOUNTAINEER. 



>Sv .v>l \vM Nn^^^^-^-A 



.Hi^. 



TO MY FELLOW CITIZENS. 

It appears to me that our Government is in the way of ruin ; not from the 
war merely — for that we could manage if we were more \irtuous — but from 
our rottenness in the Representative relation. Our rule is, mainly, one of self, 
under mere spoilsmen. A republic cannot prosper imder such a practice. Our 
do-mifall would be inevitable, even if there were no war. It would come in 
tune. But war affords opportimity in vice and hastens the catastrophe. 

And our recourse, it seems to me, is in the vigilance of the people, under 
our general morahty and intelligence. Oiu- special vice is negligence. We 
have become careless of our personal efforts, and are apt to think that, somehow, 
affairs will mend without our aid. As we abandon vigilance, we abandon 
morality and intelligence. We fail to apply them, and hence we cannot prosper. 

I intend to offer, herewith, brief items of testimony on our political debase- 
ment ; and, in presenting the state of things as it appears to me, I shall venture 
to urge means of safety imder an aroused vigilance. 

This matter claims a higher view than a party view. It demands unbiased 
action in the light of truth for the common good. We have a great trust. We 
have an inheritance to conserve, not only for our own children, but for the race 
as well, and, moreover, for the glory of the Supreme Being. 

With these I'iews, I feel that my aim is a just one ; and if I should fail to 
impress others, I shall cherish no disappointment, but shall rest in the satisfac- 
tion of an honest effort. 

C. W. 
June, 1864. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year one thoTisand eight hundred and sixty-four, 

BY CHARLES WRIGHT, 

In the District Court of the United States, for the District of Massachusetts. 



/.. 



'/ 



OUR POLITICAL PRACTICE, 



PART FIRST. 

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE CAUSE, 



This is not the cause of faction, or of party, or of any individual, but the 
common interest of every man in Britam. — Xunius. 



The authorities of Government, some months ago, held in 
durance an alleged rogue, whom they had seized as a public 
plunderer. They were seeking to accomplish his proper pun- 
ishment, when it was announced to the American public that a 
distinguished senator from the New England states was involved 
in the case as the paid attorney of the culprit ; — paid, it was 
said, in a sum of thousands, to procure his deliverance from 
impending penalties. The name of the senator was not long 
withheld. It was John P. Hale. He owned the impeachment 
in the boldest openness. 

He alleged of himself an unconsciousness of wrong in a plea 
of sweet and placid innocence. He was a lawyer — he ! — 
and therefore he did it 1 Not as a senator ; not as a patriot ; 
nor yet as a man of honor. no ! Not either. Are not these 
characters for occasions of convenience, wliich are by no means 
to interfere with the achievements of self, when self, in the eyes 
of the public functionary, may assume the predominant place ? 
Moreover, a man may he separated from his acts : So this senator 
informed us some years ago. And he, .ostensibly a high-toned 
statesman, in the exigences of self, may be merged, if need be, 
in him, the paid and influential attorney ! He may ignore the 
senator, abandon the patriot, forego the commonest dictates of 



honor J and, accepting the profits of imputed villany, he may 
thwart the processes of public justice in the relations of a ser- 
vice he is sworn to support. These acts are the lawyer's, not 
Mr. Hale's. They are detached from him. Hence he is un- 
touched, in high immunity, a senator still, the honorable John 
P. Hale. 

Mistaken republican system and practice, when the members 
of government, in one of its departments, may, in the mere 
acquisition of money, dii'cct their powers to the defeat of pro- 
ceedings instituted in a coordinate department of government, 
to secure the enforcement of public justice ; proceedings, more- 
over, for the prevention of crime in the relations of an abound- 
ing public infamy — in the relations of plunder and spoils. 
Oblivious, innocent Hale ! * 

Alas our statesmen ! Unfortunate land ! And yet, the people 
have no right to complain. 

We have surrendered politics to mere politicians, of whom 
Mr. Hale is one. And since he is better than most of the class, 
he should be left in his place, if it please the politicians, till 
the people resume their political affairs, and select men to 
administer government with a uniform reference to ability and 
worth, — with a positive reference to the public good. Then our 

* Judge Advocate General Holt is writing a review of the trial of Capt. James 
M. Hunt, Senator Hale's client, in which he will take the ground that the fine 
of two thousand dollars imposed was an msufficient punishment. The commis- 
sion, in its sentence, stated that it was thus " lenient in consideration of the 
imprisonment and the pecuniary losses already suffered by the said Hunt, by 
reason of his arrest." It was proved that Hunt made several hundred thousand 
dollars without investing a copper, and his losses were the fees he paid the sen- 
ator, A\hile the imprisonment was too brief to do good or hurt. The judge 
advocate will make out his case. —Sprmt/Jielcl Republican, March 12, "64. 

The following is the concluding paragraph of a fair and discriminating dis- 
cussion of this important subject by the Journal of Commerce: 

" We have no hesitation in expressing our opinion on the acts of individuals 
which become public property, as in the case of Mr. Hale. We do not think 
he meant to be dishonest or dishonorable in accepting a fee for his services, 
because we believe his perceptions were befogged by tlie atmosphere of fraud, 
corruption and crime, surrounding him in the party to which he is attached. 
But we do believe that, if he had carefully considered the question, he would 
have found that he was paid as a Senator and not as a lawyer. He has been 
demoralized by bad company." — Boston Weekly Courier, Jan. 7, '64. 



officials will serve the people. Now they serve themselves. 
And they elect themselves for that one aim. Is our country 
indeed " The Paradise of demagogues " ? 

What is the recognized Republican theory ? It is the rule of 
the people, through their own representatives. 

The rule of the people involves action. It involves the elec- 
tion, from among themselves, of men who are patriots, not 
self-seekers; men who are eminent for ability and worth. 
Their proper rule involves no less. These general statements 
none will deny. 

Nor will any one deny that if the people fail in the essential 
requirements of the republican being, they will fail to realize a 
suitable government. The republican form will become per- 
verted. The prerogatives of the people, the public emoluments, 
the rewards and honors of official position, will revert to mere 
political seekers, to selfish demagogues, corrupt politicians, who, 
in the rule of self, will bring on ruin, unless the people arouse in 
time, and resume their political duty. And the maladministra- 
tions already realized should amply suffice to awaken alarm. 
They should arouse the people to reform."^ 

* It were -well, no doubt, to present a few paragraphs from the public prints, 
as significant of the state of things in public relations. 

In an article on the practices in vogue at Washington, the New York 
Journal of Cotmnerce draws the following frightful picture : 

" The period in which we just now live is one of unbounded fraud and corrup- 
tion. There was never an administration in Washington under which fraud 
was carried on as openly and boldly as now. The millions that are the plunder 
of the present army of hangers-on will never be counted. There is no end to 
the terrible revelations. Nor does the trouble stop with the mere robbing of the 
public purse. The most atrocious crimes are perpetrated with the stolen money, 
and the people are growing used to the recitals. Legislators are bought and 
sold in Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere. Elections are fraudulently 
carried. The machinery of political parties is turned everywhere to the private 
account of individual office-seekers or money-seekers. The taint is spreading 
through the entire body politic. Men look calmly now on crimes from which 
they would have shrunk two or three years ago. Men think on the whole that 
it is a good thing when the Administration carry an election by shipping home 
a few thousand selected voters. Men chuckle over some political ruse in which 
a Legislature is bought for money. Men approve the action of the Treasury 
Department in giving a responsible office to a man whose vote, conscience, and 
reputation, as every one knows, were sold by himself and bought by the party 
which protects him. No one seems to think that fraud, public robbery, is a very 
great crime. We meet daily in the streets, nightly at receptions and grand 



These maladministrations are by no means local. Official 
corruption is general. It is not a matter of a particular party. 

assemblies, men who are known to be fattening on plunder, but whose social 
position seems wholly unaffected by the fact. We are not drawing any too dark 
a picture of the moral condition of affairs under the present Administration. 
The doctrine is in principle everywhere acted on, that if a man professes to be 
right on the negro question, he may be as black a sinner on all other questions 
as he pleases, and not lose the social and public support of his party or his 
daily associates in life." — Boston Weekly Courier, Jan. 7, 1863. 

There have been mistakes. There have been speculations. Weak men have 
disgraced, and bad men have betrayed the Government. Contractors have fat- 
tened on fat jobs. Adventurers have found the war a source of private gaiii. Moral 
desperadoes have flocked about the National Capital atid lain in wait for prey. The 
scum of the land has gathered about the sources of power and defiled them by its 
reek and offensive odor. There has been mismanagement in the departments; 
mismanagement wherever great labor has been perfonned and great responsibili- 
ties 'devolving. Men — even Presidents and Cabinet ofl3.cers and Commanding 
Generals have erred because they could not grasp the fvill significance of the 
drama, and because they were compelled to strike out on untrodden paths. — 
Albany Atlas and Argus, Oct. 30, 1862, from, Eve. Journal. 

The Chicago Tribime is one of the most ultra of the papers of the RepubHcan 
stamp. Here is what its Washington correspondent writes to it of the state of 
affairs at the Capital : 

" The tone of morality here is considerably lower than it ever has been before. 
This is admitted on all hands, and can be proved, or, rather, needs no proof, for 
the air is heavy with public and private guilt. A few years ago a high Austrian 
official, whose peculations were discovered, apphed the lancet to his own veins, 
and another similarly situated hanged himself. There is no such sense of shame 
here. Any coroner's jury in Washmgton would find a verdict of insanity for 
such conduct, and the verdict would be accepted in good faith. The Southerners, 
as a class, had a very nice sense of honor so far as the public treasury was con- 
cerned. Floyd was an exception — almost a solitary exception — to the rule. 
When they held the power here there was comparatively little thieving, and, 
when any was discovered, it was promptly exposed and denounced. There 
has been a change — a dreadful change for the worse. 

The fraud* and attempted frauds in the treasury, in one channel and another, 
come so fast and from such unexpected quarters, that one is bewildered in con- 
templating them. Yet nobody has been brought to justice, and nobody seems 
to think it possible that anybody should be brought to justice. ' Oh, those 
rascally contiiicTors !' says some honest man in the rural districts. For every 
dollar wrongfully taken by a contractor, five have been taken by public servants." 
Albany Atlas and Argus, Oct. 30, 1862. 

The small lax imposed on Distilled Liquors already manufactured is remitted 
by the Senate bill. We expected it. When the proposition that Whiskey on 
hand should be taxed was before Congress last winter, a mercantile house m our 
city that held a large stock of the article was told : " You must sell to certain 
parties operatmg in Washington eight thousand barrels at eighty cents per 
gallon, or the tax will go on." They consented, and that same AVhiskey was 
sold, after the tax had been defeated, at an advance of thirty cents per gallon, 
without havuig been removed. Here was not less than $72,000 paid to defeat 
the Whiskey tax by one house ; judge, then, what must have been paid in all. 
Of course, the House tax on A\Tiiskey in store will be stricken out ; we have no 
hope of any other result.— iV. Y. Tribune, May 21, 1864. 

Debate in the Seriate : — 

On motion of Mr. Grimes, (Un., Iowa) his bill m relation to Naval supplies 
was taken up, and he addressed the Senate for over two hours m answer to the 
adverse report made thereon by the Naval Committee. He gave a history of the 



It belongs to all tlie political ho.sts ; and is revealed, more or 
less, in official position, irrespective of party, or section, or 



manner of obtaining naval supplies since the organization of the navy, to show 
that, under navy agents, ^vho originally were not legally authorized officers, a 
system had grown up by collusion with contractors and master- workmen, and 
that the system proposed by his bill would remedy these abuses. He defended 
the Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks foV his efforts in detecting the 
detects of the old system. He held that the subordinates were in fault. He 
analyzed certam contracts heretofore made, under bids for suppUcs, showing as 
examples, mstances where Scotch iron had been bid for at one dollar per ton, and 
American u-on at twenty ;md thirty-six dollars per ton, and of the large amount 
advertised of the former only nuie or ten tons were delivered ; while of the latter, 
double or treble the amount would be furnished. The contractors, knowing by 
collusion beforehand what amount would be required, were thus enabled to 
secure the contract against honest men, by reason of their aggregate bid under the 
contract system bemg less. He Contended that these thmgs showed collusion 
between contractors and the employees of the Government. He mentioned 
among these contractors, Smith Brothers & Co., of Boston, who had, since 1861, 
furnished to the amount of $1,010,900 ; Schofield & Co., of New York, to about 
a similar sum ; and another firm in New Hampshire, to the amount of f 1,382,- 
6.52 ; also, Joseph L. Savage, of Washington ; items in the latter's bill to the 
Navy Yard amounting in the aggregate to $4,687, he being the lowest bidder of 
those whom Mr. Grimes presumed to be merely his confederates. The prices of 
the articles actually furnished were double their market value ; as, for instance, 
axes at $1 50, the market price of which was 75c., and manv other articles in 
proportion. Mr. Grimes showed also from their books that Schofield & Co., 
now under court-martial, hi September last, had furnished brass screws costing 
$1,400, at $6,780, and forty-eight sheets of copper, costing $123, at $4,033 50 ; 
leather costmg $1,866 at $6,043, Sec, &c. Mr. Grimes explauied at length the 
necessity of his bill to remedy these defects. He said it would provide that 
these matters of supply would be confined to regular officers of the Navy instead 
of temporary political appomtees, and prescribed such severe punishment and 
penalties as Avould diminish to a lai-ger extent the corruptions and frauds which 
were now practised. 

Mr. Hale remarked * * * that he had been arraigned for his denunciation of 
fraud, and corruption, and profligacy, as opposed to this Administration. 
His support of the Administration could not be appreciated by the thieves and 
plunderers that clung aroimd it. They would only appreciate the Administra- 
tion as long as they could rob it. 

Mr. Davis said * » * From the gentleman's conclusions there never was 
a more corrupt Government on earth. — iV. Y. Tribune, May 24, 1864. 

The war affords opportunity merely, — opportunity of spoils and plunder. 
The following paragraph is highly illustrative of the abounding means of 
Tillainy. Will any of the " candidates " be properly punished ? Doubtful. 

' It is stated,' says the Intelligencer, ' that the investigations growing out of the 
frauds in the quartermaster's department at Alexandria are still progressing, 
and new candidates for the Old Capitol present themselves daily. Nearly all 
of the contractors, together with the quartermasters and their clerks are now 
in that institution. The Secretary of War expects to have the entire party 
before the investigation closes.' The Union sa.ys: 

'The frauds, it is believed, are far more extensive than was at first 
supposed. From the fact that the officer whose duty it was to purchase forage 
for the army had appointed his brother inspector of hay, and a son of the 
principal contractor inspector of grain, there is every reason to believe that no 



state. Any party whatever tl.at secures an aseendeney remains 
still in the lead ot politieians. Hence to change is not to reform. 
A change is merely a change of politicians. It bnt serves to 
elevate a new set of men, who have self to serve as then- prede- 
cessors had; who have family friends, and political fr.ends, and 
the friends of friends, all of whom, by the rnle of "spods that 
has governed in the last thirty years, may be fitly attached to 
the public crib.* Since the administration ol tln^^econdAdams, 

Z^^^^^^^^^^^.^^^^^^^^^^^^-^^^ at the expense of the 

Oo^aiimcnt:-BosMnWeekl!/Cou,;er.Jan.7. 64. 

The opportunity ot the war, without any donht, would be a, readily .e.zed 
by democratic official, were they i„ the position ot rule. The ^P""''™ J 
n t .„»•.% wrong. T*. „« U ,»W. Does any one suppose ~™ - 
politicians are ot a type more honest or pure > Let bun look at those ot New 
Y h City, and contemplate their administration ot affairs. Let hnn examure 
I: practices ot James Buchanan, and Ids immediate aid, and dependents. 
Indeed, our corruptions originated largely in the theory and pr.ct.ce ot pods, 
which, some thirty years ago were openly promulgated trom thehaUotthe 
Senate, by the ruling democracy of the nation. 

John C.Calhoun ^as right in ^^^J^^^'^i^ TllS S 
together by the " cohesive power of the public plunder. A. i. 
14, 1864. 

S"has beeJthat the election might by some means be '^-"^^^;^^^^'!i^;,7th; 

Much of northern subserviency to the slave interest came of that. And besides 
ti^ the whole business of politics took on a look, so mercenary and mean and 
selfisi, that honorable men who ought to have entered into it and controlled it, 
tmiied away in disgnst.-Sprinfffield Republican, March 28, 63. 

The system of " spoils" has become universal in the relations of party and 
government. The two leading parties are equally corrupt, and the people of 
each who arc not politicians, must begin the reform at home. Party is inevita- 
ble in the republican form. Fisher Ames asks: -Is it in the nature of free 



9 

no party in power, no set of politicians, has sought to curtail 
official patronage or stanch the supplies of public plunder.* 

Nor is reform to be found in simply a change among the 
politicians of a party incumbent. We are assured there is in 
the New York Custom House an abounding mass of practical 
knavery — enough to confound the nation.t And has it not 

governments to exist without parties ? " And he answers : «' Such a thing has 
never yet been, and probably never will be." And De Tocqueville says : 
" Parties are a necessary evil in free governments, but they have not at all 
times the same character and the same propensities." * * * " America has 
had great parties, but has them no longer." Corrupt politicians secure their 
ends by inflaming party rage and warfare. Each party, then, must reform 
itself through the action of its honest men. Each must oust its corrupt poli- 
ticians. No majority party, with its best men at the lead, will ever ruin the 
country. 

K we fail to put down this rebellion it will be because political prejudices 
and the lust for place and power, and the spoils of office, override the patrito- 
ism of the people. — Boston Journal, Jan. 24, '63. 



* Now, though such leaders may have many occasions of jealousy and discord 
with one another, especially in the division of power and booty, is it not absurd 
to suppose that any set ot' them will endeavour to restore both to the right 
owners ? — Fisher Aines' Political Essays. 



t The Delaware Gazette (Wilmington) says : 

Our readers have already been acquainted with the exposure of immense 
frauds in the New York Custom House, through the instrumentality of the Con- 
gressional Investigating Committee, of which Col. Van Wyck is chairman. An 
effort was made to prevent the evidence from becoming public, but the Colonel 
was not to be deterred by threats or bribes, and msisted that his report should 
be printed. The following extract from his speech in Congress on the subject, 
expresses sentiments that must meet with a fervent response in the breast of 
every real patriot. It should be recollected that Col. Van Wyck is a RepubU- 
can,"and his testimony is the more valuable on that account : 

" The neck begins to chafe where the yoke of this heavy burden is borne. The 
Administration has feared to drive such men from its door, lest hostility should 
be aroused against it. That which they supposed strength has been the great 
source of weakness. With a single exception, when has one of these men been 
court-martialed or punished ? To-day they have injured the republic more than 
the South in arms. Had they been arrested and placed under the gallows or in 
Fort Lafayette, your army would have been stronger, your people at home more 
united. M iconder that your soldiers a?id friends are dissatisfied. They cannot 
appreciate the patriotism of stealing. Your army, for a mere pittance, is deprived 
of all the luxuries, and, at the same time, the necessaries of life ; endurmg all 
the privations of camp and the dangers of battle, while they see base men making 
mockery of the misfortune of the nation, coining gold from the sighs and tears of 
the people." — Boston Weekly Courier, March 2, 1863. 



10 

been thus tor many a year,, a thing of progressiou, constant, 
regular, sure ? — wholly unchecked by a change of incumbents ? 
Unchecked, no doubt, from the manifest fact that whoever is 
placed in a public position, made vacant by a knave displaced, 
is himself a seeker of the prescriptive class, — an eligible self- 
pushing political seeker, — who has already earned a right to 
preferment, and who therefore receives the reward. Who ever 
heard of inquiry abroad, — of a government agent in pursuit of 
fitness for positions of trust ? — in pursuit of integrity allied 
to ability ? Wliat sections of country were ever explored for 
thoroughly suitable men ? what counties canvassed ? what 
villages searched ? The New York merchants find suitable 
clerks ; and suitable men are in every position involving rule 
and trust, outside of the government service.* That service, 

Report of Mr. Jordan, Solicitor of the Treasury Department. He says 
generally : 

" As to the accessibility of many of those employed in the Custom House to 
corrupt influence, the e^idence is, I regret to say, conclusive and startling. The 
facts developed show that money, in large sums, was received by officials as the 
undisguised reward of fraudulent acts of connivance. But, in addition to this, 
the statements submitted seem to justify the belief that nearly the entire body of 
subordinate officers in and about the Custom House are, in one way or another, 
in the habitual receipt of emoluments from importers or their agents. One law- 
yer declares that he has paid to a single record clerk the sum of .f 1800 within a 
period of fifteen months. Entries from the books of an importing house doing 
but a moderate business are discovered, showmg that about a thousand dollars 
had been paid by it to an examiner within a period of a year. Van Vecht^n 
(one of the officers of the Custom House) admits that he received not less than 
§■2500 per annum from s\ieh sources. It is shown that a bond clerk, with a 
salary of .f 1000 per annum, enters upon a term of eight years with nothing, and 
leaves it with a fortune of $30,000. A majority of the officials questioned on 
the subject admit that they receive such emoluments to a greater or less amount." 
— Springfield Republican, Feb. 17, '63. 

It is likely to be proved that officials of the Custom House havfe accepted bribes 
for affording means in supplj'ing the rebel enemy. 

Investigations into New York Custom House affairs, by the Committee of the 
House, develop the fact that a trade of such magnitude has been conducted be- 
tween parties in the North and the rebels on the Rio Grande, that the rebel 
agent at Matamorns has pocketed out of it over a million dollars as his share of 
the profits. Who the guilty parties in the Custom Hovise are, of course is not 
known, publicly at least, but the arrest of an employe, on Saturday last, directly 
by the Committee, it is strongly believed, Avill lead to fui'ther arrests. — Spring' 
field Weekly Republican, April 2, '64. 



* The litter incompetency of many of the clerks in the Executive Departments 
is getting to be a subject of universal comment. In one of the bureaus of the 



11 

alas ! the politicians hold. That service they hold through a 
popular negligence. The people fail. Hence our peril. 

And however much the people are assured, by preliminary 
pledges of reform, still, led on as we are by self-seeking men, no 
party seeks the public good, except as a subordinate aim. The 
first good is the good of self, on the part of tlie men who lead. 
The second good is the good of party, which, indeed, is the 
means of self. * The third, perchance, is the public good, 
which is never justly achieved. And our evils breed their own 
immensity. The plunder of government is the stimulant of 
party, the support of politicians, their hope, their strength, their 
stay. And the host multiplies ; — greedy, ravenous, ruthless. 
And the people rest. The public concerns they regard as 
remote. They pursue their farms, they pursue trade; while 
the far-off interests of public affairs remain in the hands of 
demagogues.'!- Can the republic stand? How long will 

Treasury Department, for example, the second man in command is said to be 
incapable of writing correctly even the most ordinary letter, and a clerk under 
him cannot write at all. In one place mere boys are intrusted with highly 
responsible duties, while men who have grown gray in the service have to devote 
their time to copying. The extent to which this style of incompetent engineer- 
ing is carried, is really astoimding. It was with au eye to reform in these mat- 
ters, that Mr. Boutwell introduced a bill for creating a Board of Examination, 
whose dutj' it should be to examine all clerks appointed to office, as well as 
those now in office who are unfit for their positions. — Boston Weekly Courier, 
April 7, '64. 



* In the progress of our confusion, these men will effectually assert their claims 
and display their skill. There is no governing power in the State but party. 
The moderate and thinking part of the citizens are without power or uiflu- 
ence ; and it must be so, because all power and influence are engrossed by a fac- 
tious combination of men, who can overwhelm uncombined individuals with 
numbers, and the wise and virtuous with clamor and fury. — Fisher Ames' Politi- 
cal Essays. 



t Who will be the associates r Certainly not the virtuous, who do not wish to 
control the Society, but quietly to enjoy its protection. The enterprising mer- 
chant, the thriving tradesman, the careful farmer, will be engrossed by the toils 
of their business, and will have little time or inclination for the unprofitable 
and disquieting pursuits of politics. It is not the industrious, sober husband- 
man who will plough that barren field ; it is the lazy and dissolute bankrupt, 
who has no other to plough. The idle, the ambitious, and the needy will band 
together to break the hold the law has upon them, and then to get hold of law. 
Fisher Ames' Political Essays. 



12 

it last ? Are the developments of vice regarded as perilous ? 
If they are so regarded, who, pray, is alarmed ? What meas- 
ures of reform are already instituted ? — how many ? Not one ! 
No doubt there are those whose sentiment is that the sway of 
demagogues in the affairs of a republic is the natural evil of the 
republican form ; that, indeed, their rule is inevitable ; and 
that, therefore, it is vain to anticipate a change which shall 
effectually ameliorate the condition of things in the relations of 
politics and government; that, in short, we are doomed to an 
ephemeral being. It is not to be denied that in eidightened 



Man is a docile animal. If he wasn't, the professed politicians wouldn't 
have things their own way so often as they do. They get together and go 
through the farce of a nominating convention, putting up the men for office 
whom they think will best serve their own purposes in the future, and the 
people quietly ratify the nomination at the polls, no matter whether they 
approve the nomination or not. In fact very few of those who go to nomi- 
nating conventions have any hand in the selection of a candidate. It is a 
pleasant thought to them to imagine they do, but they are deluded. The thing 
was probably decided, if not ft-om the foundation of the world, at any rate 
from the time there was any prospect of an office becoming vacant. It is all 
very pretty to talk about a popular government, but the people have really 
very little hand in the matter, the politicians do it all, and have things their 
own way. — Springfield Republican, Oct. 23, 1863. 

Mk. Chase's Declination. * * * « We believe his example ought to be 
immediately imitated by half a dozen other gentlemen who are now prominently 
named for the next presidency — whose friends are engaged night and day, to 
our personal knowledge, establishing parties, cliques, committees, newspapers, 
and other agencies, all having in view a victorious capture of the Baltimore 
Convention. If we were to uncover what we know of these secret and manifold 
machinations — and perhaps we will at a convenient season, speaking impartially 
and sparing no man — our simple-minded readers would open their eyes in 
wonder. At this moment, letters and telegrams, innumerable, are flying over 
city and country, all converging upon the presidential nomination of several 
gentlemen who are now struggling to outwit each other next June. 

In this country Presidents are elected by the People ; but they have heretofore 
been nominated by Politicians. Now, for a novelty, let us have both nomina- 
tion and election by the People. We Avould like to see the next nominating 
convention composed of plain men, not politicians, not wire-workers, not 
party engineers. It would produce a salutary change in our politics if, here- 
after, no man who is an office-holder should be eligible to a seat in a presiden- 
tial convention. At present, men in official positions are either saving or losing 
their heads, according as they stand affected to this or that prospective 
candidate ; bargains are being made ; threats used ; screws brought to pinch ; 
pressure of all kinds applied ; and all apparently without a thought that the 
men who do these things are dishonoring themselves. We are not speaking of 
the Democratic party — of whose interior we know little ; but of the Republi- 
can party — whereof we know more than goes to form a flattering opinion. — 
Indapendent, March 17, 18'>4. 



13 

Europe such an opinion prevails. It cannot, then, be regarded 
as strange that, to some extent, it should obtain with us.* 

* Mr. Riggs says the paper currency scheme will produce money, and make 
every man richer. He is a banker, and ought to kuoAv ; but to my ignorant eye 
it seems likely to prove most destructive ; and I confess that, -vvhatevor be the 
result of this war, I have no desire for the ruin of so many happy communities 
as have sprung up in the United States. Had it been possible lor human beings 
to employ popular institutions without intrigue and miserable self-seeking, and 
to be superior to faction and party passion, the condition of parts of the United 
States must cause regret that an exemption from the usual laws which regulate 
human nature was not made in America ; but the strength of the United States 
— directed by violent passions, by party mterests, and by selfish mtrigucs — was 
becoming dangerous to the peace of other nations, and therefore there is an utter 
want of sympathy Avith them in their time of trouble.— 3/y Diary North and 
South, by W. H. Eusscll. 

Paid a visit to Colonel Seaton of the National hitelligencer, a man deservedly 
respected and esteemed for his private character, which has given its impress to 
the journal he has so long conducted. ************ 
Li the minds of all the very old men in the States, there is a feeling of great sad- 
ness and despondency respectmg the present troubles ; and, though they cling to 
the idea of a restoration of the glorious Union of their youth, it is hoping against 
hope. ' Our game is played out. It was the most wonderful and magnificent 
career of success the world ever saAv, but rogues and gamblers took up the cards 
at last : they quarelled, and are found out.' — Same. 

But in democratic states there will be factions. The sovereign power, being 
nominally in the hands of all, will be effectively within the grasp of a few ; and, 
therefore, by the very laws of our nature, a few will combine, intrigue, lie, and 
light to engross it to themselves. All history bears testimony that this attempt 
has never yet been disappointed. 

We are to be subject, then, to a despotic faction, u-ritated by the resistance 
that has delaj^ed, and the scorn that pursues their triumph, elate with the inso- 
lence of an arbitrary and uncontrollable domination, and who will exercise their 
sway, not according to the rules of integrity or national policy, but in conformity 
with their own exclusive interests and passions. 

This is a state of things which admits of progress, but not of refonnation ; it 
is the begmning of a revolution, which must advance. Our affairs, as first 
observed, no longer depend on coiuisel. The opinion of a majority is no longer 
invited or permitted to control our destinies, or even to retard then* consumma- 
tion. The men in power may, and no doubt will, give place to some other fac- 
tion, who will succeed, because they are abler men, or, possibly, in candor we 
say it, because they are worse. Intrigue will for some time answer instead of 
force, or the mob will supply it. But by degrees force only will be relied on 
by those who are in, and employed by those who are out. The vis major will 
prevail, and some bold chieftain will conquer Uiberty, and triumph and reign iit 
her name. 

Yet it is confessed, we have hopes that this event is not very near. — Fisher 
Ames' Political Essays. 

If men are capable of governing themselves by reason, why have all demo- 
cratic and republican governments come to ruin ? Why have they not been 
permanent ? Corruption, it will be said, has ruined them. True ; and this is 
conceding the whole question. It is the depravity of man which has ruined all 
former free governments, and which will ruin otiis. ******** 
Must we, then, despair of the Republic ? No, Sir, not yet. The people of this 
country are republican in principle, and will not abandon the hope that a repub- 



14 

Let us look at this sentiment. It is not unimportant in its 
general influence; for, if our ruin remains but a matter of time ; 
if our future is hopeless in the political relation, then our efforts 
for reform arc vain ; or, at best, can only delay our doom. We 
cannot deny that if an evil rules, and rules, moreover, in an 
increasing strength, in the relations of a government for the 
public good, the evil must, in the course of time, defeat that 
government's aim. But does the evil of the republic necessarily 
rule ? Is the sway of demagogues inevitable ? 

The demagogue, it is clear, has no proper power. He is a 
mere usurper. His achievements of place are through the 
popular ignorance, or popular negligence. The 'popular vices 
are Ms manifest means ; and by a virtuous people who are 
properly vigilant, he may be readily deposed and precluded 
position. 

It were well nigh superfluous to repeat a truth universally 
recognized among thinking men who sustain the republican 
theory — that the life of the system is only found in the intelli- 
gence and morality of the popular mass.* It has external 

lican government can be sustained. But Sii-, tliat hope must be abandoned, 
Tinless the great men of our country will lay aside their party strife, and unite in 
some vigorous efforts to amend the defects of our Constitution. The leading men, 
Sir, must * * * * mount up to the source of our public evils. — Mar- 
cellus, by Noah Webster. 



* Republics, according to Montesquieu and De Tocqueville, are founded on 
two great principles — public virtue and the intelligence of the people, includ- 
ing eternal vigilance. When one or the other of these foundation stakes is 
removed the structure must fall. Let us not, therefore, imagine that God will 
work miracles in our case. Heaven helps those who help themselves. K we 
are not lit to govern ourselves events will soon put a despot over us who wQl 
rule us with a rod of iron. Americans are no exception to human nature. We 
are of the same flesh and blood as the men who have gone before us for 
thousands of years, and the same fate happens to all. Human government 
seems to be moving round in a circle. First kings, then republics, then despots, 
and so on to the last syllable of recorded time. The American government is 
only a modification of the governments which have preceded it. It is a represen- 
tative confederation of representative republics banded together by a constitution 
in an indissoluble Union, liut its founders said it was only an " experiment," 
and its permanence depended on the moderation and wisdom of the people in 
all sections of the country. — Xew York Herald, April 14, 1863. 

Well, therefore, and in the highest spirit of philosophy, did Montesquieu say 
that the Roman Republic was overthrown, not, as is commonly supposed, by 



15 

perils, no doubt. An external physical force may destroy it, — 
it may be overborne by the arms of a foreign power. But 
from internal causes it can never decay among a people of 
ample intelligence and worth. The important question, then, 
manifestly is. Have we the intelligence and the moral worth 
that will suffice to maintain the system ? It is not my purpose 
to attempt herein the full consideration of the question. I, 
however, conceive it may be well maintained, that with us, at 
least with some of our states, the republican form will endure. 
That the elements of failure, whatever they are, will be recog- 
nized before our ruin is sure, and the competent remedy applied. 



the ambition of Caesar and Pompey, but by that state of thuigs which made the 
success of their ambition possible. — Buckle's Essays. — Mill on Liberty. 

For Liberty is the one thing most essential to the right development of indi- 
viduals and to the real grandeur of nations. It is a jDroduct of knowledge, 
when knowledge advances in a healthy and regular manner. — Same. 

Of all the dispof^itions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion 
and morality are indispensable supports * * *, The mere politician, equally 
with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not 
trace all theu- connections with private and public felicity * * *. And let us 
with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without 
religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on 
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious prmciple. 

It is substantially true, that vii-tue or morality is a necessary spring of popu- 
lar government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every 
species of fi-ee government. Who that is a sincere friend to it. can look with 
indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric ? 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general 
diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives 
force to public opinion, it should be enlightened. — Washi^igton' s Valedictory 
Address to the people of the Utiited States. 

They (the French revolutionists) have attacked the foundation of civil soci- 
ety, by endeavoring to root out from the human heart, all belief in revelation, 
and in the moral government of a Supreme Being. — Rights of Neutrals, by Noah 
Webster. 

Although a democratic government is founded upon a very simple and 
natural principle, it always presupposes the existence of a high degree of culture 
and enlightenment in society. At first, it might be supposed to belong to the 
earliest ages of the world ; but maturer obser^-ation wUl con\7nce us that it 
could only come last in the succession of hiunan history. — '* Democracy in 
America" by De Tocqueville. 

It cannot be doubted that, in the United States, the instruction of the people 
powerfully contributes to the support of the democratic republic ; and such 
must always be the case, I believe, where the instruction which enlightens the 
understanding is not separated from the moral education which amends the 
heart. — Same. 



16 

That though the interests of the present national Union may 
prove too remote for individual concern, in our present state of 
enlightenment, and that hence it may fail through the popular 
negligence — the people leaving it a prey to demagogues — we 
shall not abandon the republican system. That by means of 
reform we shall still retain it in separate states, or in minor 
unions, if not in the extended form of the present. That 
popular effort will supersede negligence. That we shall finally 
manifest intelligence, morality, and a popular vigilance, sufficient 
at least, for means of relief in time to avert a general ruin. 

The condition, then, of republican practice, in the general 
proficiencies of mind and morals that we as a people have 
secured, is not a condition of permanent excellence. Of a steady 
success it presents no assurance; it affords no immediate hope. 
It presents both tlie fact and the prospect of change. We are to 
experience relapses in the public weal, from the dominant rule 
of inherent vices, which, for the time, secure a dominion through 
the general immorality, the general ignorance, or the habitual 
or casual negligence of the people. We have now to do with 
the popular negligence. This I conceive to be the dominant vice 
that has induced the imminent peril of the times. And herein 
we need a reform. Our honor demands it, our just prosperity, 
indeed, our republican being. 

Our imminent peril is found, I believe, primarily, in the 
popular negligence — more immediately, in a lack of political 
integrity. A lack of integrity manifestly appears in all the 
relations of government; and an upright government is utterly 
impossible, through the agencies of corrupt politicians. Corrupt 
politicians secure the ascendancy through the general neglect of the 
people. Usurping demagogues appear in government. They 
elect themselves. The machinery of party is theirs. They 
hold the conventions. Not one in scores of the mass of the people 
bestows any effort in the primary means that elevate men and form 
the government. Our elections are not — who does not know it ? 



— our elections are not on the days of election ; nor are they 
accomplished by tlie legal ballot. They are secured at the 
caucuses ; they are made at the conventions ; where mere poli- 
ticians interchange strength, and cordially support one-another. 
The people, at the ballot box, ratify their acts, affording the 
requirements of law. Our government, then, is really the gov- 
ernment of adroit self-seekers, political adepts, who have self to 
serve, not the people: who find opportunity in the popular 
indolence, indifference, negligence. Vice umrps the place of 
virtue through the popular failure in vigilance.^ 

* The apathy of all, or at least of most well-to-do persons, in the affairs of 
the coiintry, is something amaziuir, appalling. Your rich merchant and banker 
is here altogether absorbed by his anxiety for making money, or all agog with 
the pleasure of spending it. He is either nailed to his desk at his counting- 
house, or heaping luxuries in his country-house, or displaying his wealth at the 
watering-places. Politics is the bushiess of politicians — t. e., of nameless 
adventurers, without a stake in the country. — N. Y. Correspondent of London 
Times, Aug. 11, 1863. 

To meet the subject fairly we must begin, I think, by acknowledging a general 
decay of what may be termed the civic virtues, — a decay which has been going 
on for many years, affecting all parties and all classes. 

Even an unexampled and uninterrupted prosperity has indh-ectly contributed 
to it. Until the recent outbreak no amount of maladniinistration has been found 
perceptiblj' to impair this prosperity ; fi-om which sensible and well disposed 
men have hastily concluded that civil government, well or ill administered, at 
least ui a country like ours where the people are self- governed, is not of much 
consequence after all. In this way government generally, except, perhaps, 
that part of it which is represented by the local police, has lost in their eyes, 
little by httle, the support derived from a sense of its sacredness and necessity. 
They have been led not only to take less and less interest in it, but also to feel 
less and less anxiety about it, — content to build up each one his own private 
fortune, and leaving it for those who have nothing better to do to look after the 
State.— Election Sermon of James Walker, D. D., Jan. 7, 1863. 

We believe ourselves to be right when we say that the causes of this terrible 
civil war show nothing more aggravating and lamentable than the fact that so 
many of our ablest class of citizens have left their interests in politics, and given 
their attention exclusively to business and the pleasures of social life. They 
have left the adventm-ers "to govern the caucuses, to control the conventions, to 
name the candidates for public office, and to direct the affairs of the nation. — 
N. Y. Journal of Commerce, June 13, 1864. 

Nothing but the most scandalous disregard of public decency coidd induce 
nominating committees to present three-fourths of the names which the commu- 
nity is asked to vote for. Many of them are notorious for their malfeasances in 
office, their ignorance and their boorishnesa. They have not one single thing to 
recommend them ; and, to their credit be it said, they do not claim to have. — 
N. Y. Jour7ial of Commerce, Nov. 16, 1863. 

The nation has been ruined by politicians. Politicians work by the machinery 
to which we now refer. It is a puzzle to some men to understand how the few 
3 



18 

If our political action came from the people, the result, no 
doubt, would generally be the election of ability and worth. 
They would seek, in the main, the requisite qualities for a fit 
performance of official duty. The ready dictates of a common 
sense, and a personal interest, as well as the requirements of 
the republican form, would call for and secure no less. Then 

can govern the many in these primary meetings, but the explanation is simple 
to the mitiated. The organization of every party includes leaders and follow- 
ers, and the bond between them is a bond of support for re-svard. Success 
ensures the distribution of ofRces and plunder, and the pay for service is gradua- 
ted -with reference to past dues and future ability to render valuable aid. 

Thousands of respectable and mtelligent citizens in New York, men of wealth 
and character, are too indolent or too careless to attempt any reform of this state 
of things. — X. Y. Journal of Commerce, May 30, 1864. 

The theory of our government is that the people select their wisest and best 
men for the important and honorable service of national legislation. If this 
were fact as well as theory, our members of Congress would be men to whom 
the pecuniary rewards of the service would be of small account, because they 
could do better in their professions or business at home. After their congress- 
ional terms had expired, such men would not be found hanging about Congress 
and the executive departments, begging for places. They would be above it 
and have no temptations to it. The crowd of ex- Congressmen now in inferior 
positions, and the still larger crowd supplicating and intriguing for places, 
furnish conclusive demonstration that our ablest and best men are not sent to 
Congress ; that, by some means, inferior men, men of small calibre and less 
character, are entrusted with the responsibilities of national legislators. Of 
course the fault is primarily with the people, who have no right to send as their 
representatives insigniticant and mean men when there is really no lack among 
us of men of high culture and honorable position. It is no excuse to say that 
the plotting wire-pulling politicians are at the bottom of it ; the voters should 
not surrender their personal judgment and their votes to the control of the 
small, bargaining politicians. — Springfield Repuhlican, Nov. 21, 1863. 

On entering the House of llepresentatives at Wahhington, one is struck by 
the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly. Often there is not a distinguished 
man in the whole number. — " Democracy in America" by De Tocqueville. 

Senator Wall, cf New Jersey, tells how it happened that the indemnity bill 
got through the Senate without opposition. "Four of our men" — and he 
named them, — " four of our men were so drunk they couldn't leave their rooms ; 
and the others, not knowing how drunk these men were, had gone off to Count 
Mercier's party." — Springfield Reptiblican, March 6. 1863. 

We have learned too habitually in times of peace to have it thrust upon us 
now, that we are " thirtj- millions of people, led by thirty thousand petty caucus 
politicians." — Boston Transcript. 

To be sure, the forms of free suffrage are left us, and this suffrage has been 
more and more extended ; but to what purpose, if the whole is merely to sanc- 
tion a foregone conclusion agreed upon elsewhere. A printed list of names is 
thrust upon me, which I transfer to the ballot-bo.x, with the not very pleasing 
or flattering consciousness that I am used by somebody, I know not whom, for 
some purpose, I know not what. — Election Sermon of James Walker, D.D., Jan. 
7, 1863. 

Policy is a snare, and politicians, in the sense which that word has acquired 
in America, are a curse to us. — '• God in the War," a Discourse, by Henry 
Smith, D. D. 



19 

we should have, generally, at least, integrity, ability and worth 
in office. These, generally, we already have, wherever the 
people, in our republican forms, are brought into personal and 
familiar action in the selections for positions of trust. 

This is, indeed, an important truth in aid of the republican 
theory. It may be well established, as a general truth, by a fair 
survey of our country towns, in the conduct of their local affairs. 
Men dishonest, incompetent men, cannot be elected and held in 
position in our minor rural communities. In the country towns, 
within their sphere, the people at large are duly familiar with 
men and measui-es in public relations. They demand in the 
main, they secure in the main, the accomplishment of the public 
good. But here their efforts end. They perform enough to 
vindicate their ability, to evince a fit intelligence and morality, 
within the precincts of the minor towns. They perform no 
more. Not one in a score, scarce one in a hundred of these same 
men pays any attention whatever to the Countij, or District, or State 
conventions through which the mere political seekers achieve ambi- 
tions and secure the Government. The people fail in vigilance. 

But how many men, and who, are alarmed ? To what extent 
of public depravity, to what degree of national imbecility, 
will we permit ourselves to attain, before we arouse to political 
reform ? We indulged Slavery for fifty years, in regular attain- 
ments of strength and position. And we now receive our 
reward. " Ye shall bear the sins of your idols." * How 

* The Montreal Witness thus moralizes on our Rebellion and Civil War : 
" The present desolating contest m the United States is the result of a long 
train of antecedents. The man who, by a career of industry and frugality, adds 
to his possessions year by year, does not more certainly accumulate a fortune, 
than a nation, by a career of injustice an* pride, treasures up wrath against the 
day of wrath. The mischief was done then ; it has only become apparent now. 
When the United States consented to sanction Slavery, however indirectly, in 
their Federal Constitution, the evil seed was sown which has grown into a great 
tree and overshadowed the land. When they, for considerations of expe- 
diency, allowed the Slave Power to obtain the ascendancy, and to spread Slavery 
mto Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas, they were striking deadly blows at their 
own future peace. When they put the army and navy of the United States at the 
service of Slavery, as in the case of the Amistad negroes, Greytown and Kansas, 
and when they haughtily proclaimed to the nations that their flag must not even 
be visited to ascertain whether it was covering the prohibited slave trade or not, 
great trouble was evidently drawing nigh. The Scripture says : — 'A haughty 



20 

loug will we venture to forego Integrity in the relations of 
party and government? How long will we rest in shameful 
negligence in the pitiful narrowness of self? How long will 
we pursue our private affairs, — our farms, our shops, our 
trade, — and permit, outside of the minor towns, the sole and 
unlimited sway of demagogues ? May men of integrity, of 
delicate honor, of eminent ability and worth, no longer hope 
for political preferment through the just judgments of the 
people ? Must the country continue to forego their aid in 
deference to mere political seekers, through the popular neglect 
of manifest duty, in clear derogation of the public good, and 
to the imminent peril of our republican form ? Shall we con- 
tinue to attach to our highest honors, and to the vital interests 
of the common weal, the political adventurers and mere deb- 
auchees, or even men like the free and mellifluous Hale ? We 
do not disown his genial soul. We fear his virtue. Is he 
open, alas ! in his easy hours, may he yield to the fatal allure- 
ments of vice ? Can he reject money, forego fees, maintain an 
untouched republican honor? Such are the concerns that the 
times suggest. These, and similar forms of enquiry, would 
appear both common and necessary were there a present vigi- 

spirit goeth before a fall ;' and the fall could not be far off when such unheard- 
of pride was manifested. It is said, and said truly, that these measures were 
th^ result of slave-holding ascendency at Washington — that they were planned 
and carried out by the very parties who were now in rebellion ; but the North, 
which had always the majority of votes, could have prevented them. The 
North acqmesced for the sake of tmion, peace, and protit ; and, therefore, the 
whole nation is responsible for them, and fearful has the weight of that responsi- 
bility proved. 

" Never, we suppose, in the history of the world, were injustice, oppression, 
and inhimianity more haughtily proclaimed, and more unblushingly defended, 
than in the United States ; and a rightepus Providence stood pledged, as it were, 
to make the punishment, as signal as the offense." — Netc Yo7-k Tribune, Oct. 23, 
1862. 

Cotcmporaneous with our indulgence to slavery, has been our neglect of 
political integrity. Indeed, the former is involved in the latter. We have no 
right to expect, even with the suppression of the rebellion, a relief from the 
pressure of evil. Political corruption will suffice for our ruin. Were we " treasur- 
uring -wTath " in indulging slavery ? We are no less surely treasxiring wrath in 
permitting the politics of the times. 



21 

lance on the part of the people, under a suitable sense of 
personal duty in the aflairs of politics and o-overnment. 

"It has been remarked by an eminent Frenchman that ' Gov- 
ernment will be as rascally as the people permit.' " * This 
sentiment implies the popular rule; and indeed with us, the 
popular morals continue to hold a degree of control. Men 
grossly and notoriously vicious and criminal can hardly secure 
the popular vote, except in especially negligent constituencies. 
Such men, it is true, may rule in New York, which has probably 
the basest rule in Christendom. f And possibly there are other 
governments still, within our boasted republican precincts, 
where the public virtue is similarly impotent. But in most of 
our constituencies, notorious implications in positive vice so 
militate against the means of success, that politicians forego the 
more prominent knaves, and substitute those who, if not more 
virtuous, are less notoriously vile. Still, the direction of affairs 
in the hands of politicians is constantly towards an increased 
baseness. The people no sooner forego their duty than the 
vicious agencies assume the sway, and go forward as far in the 
prosecution of vice as the popular negligence allows. This 
negligence allowed the election of Mr. Hale to his second term 
in the Senate. It has permitted the election of other senators 

* New York Independent. 

t Judge Barnard of New York, to the Grand Jury : 

" A few years since, a body of unprincipled and corrupt men banded together 
for the purpose of controling the legislative branch of the City Government by 
their votes, forming what is now kno-\\'n as the ' Ring.' It is still in active 
operation. There is no scheme, no matter how corrupt or wicked, but what will 
pass through, provided a sufficient pecuniary inducement is brought to bear ; 
and no measure, however meritorious, is sufficient to become a law unless a like 
influence is used. They seek to control every branch of the City Government. 
There are men also who band together and live by the presentation and collect- 
ion of fraudulent claims against this city, originated in fraud and carried through 
by perjury. The remedy lies with the people themselves. As long as they 
abstam from voting, or vote for unworthy men, just so long will the taxes of 
this city go on rapidly increasing until in a few years it will amount to a confis- 
cation of property. If the community are desirous of preserving their property, 
they should begin at once and organize themselves into associations for the pur- 
pose of efi"ecting mxmicipal reform." — New York Tribune, April 8, 1864. 

It is little to know, as the public have long known, that the whole system 
of municipal government in New York is a system of organised robbery. — New 
York Tribune, April 7, 1864, 



22 

still, who are still more obnoxious to a just republicanism. We 
may revert, and properly, to illustrative incidents. Our public 
men are fairly subject to a just public criticism.* It is fit, 
moreover, to review our policy, and to illustrate our political 
practice. 

Prior to his second election to the Senate, there were ways 
and means in the course of Mr. Hale, which, in an aspirant for 
public position, a vigilant people might well have observed. 
They were not unrelated to the public interests. He was 
reputed a lobbyist in the congressional purlieus ; and inthe Brooks 
and BmiingSime faux jMs of a duel, he appeared the defender 
of a dubious faith, a disjunctive philosophy, ingenious and 
novel, and manifestly potent in shielding iniquity if only received 
and accepted. It was devised, no doubt, to appease Mr. 
Brooks and avert the bloc Jy arbitrament. Significant chivalry ! 
A man, it was said, could be detached from his conduct. A man 
could be separated from Ids acts. He might thus, it is obvious, 
be counted a gentleman though his conduct should prove him a 
pitiful knave. This sapient system, thus sagely resultant, Mr. 
Hale maintained in the cause of his friend. He put forth an 
essay to support it. 

Had the legislators of New Hampshire been the just repre- 
sentatives of an honest and high-minded constituency, they 
would not have elected a man who had pursued exceptionable 
measures of practice. The intelligent and high-toned patriotism 
of the State would have demanded, in a candidate for the 
national Senate, a high-toned integrity — an untouched honor. 

* I know not how we are to preserve political virtue in a republic, unless we 
expose political vice, and do it freely. And it is right, no doubt, in making 
the exposure, to name the offenders freely. Buckle says, having reference to 
three officials whom he held to be delinquents, a clergyman, a magistrate, and a 
judge, — "To discourage a repetition of the offence, the offenders must be pun- 
ished. And, surely, no punishment can be more severe than to preserve their 
names." So Junius declares, of one who "preserves no measures with the 
public," — "I would pursue htm through life, and try the last exertion of my 
abilities to preserve the perishable infamy of his name, and make it immortal." 



23 

The cause of the republic demands no less. The national wel- 
fare and fame demand it. But the New Hampshire legislators 
were like other legislators. They were mainly, no doubt, self 
constituted rulers; the supple managers of primary caucuses 
and general conventions, especially seeking their own ambitions. 
We may presume they selected themselves. The people of the 
State, like the Massachusetts people, and the people of other 
States of the Union, as a whole, no doubt, surrender politics 
to mere politicians, and rest content in ratifying their acts 
at the legally appointed elections. Hence they, like others 
elect politicians. Hence Mr. Hale was elected ; while their 
superior men, able and honest, scorning to manipulate the politi- 
cal wires in elevation of themselves to position, remain discon- 
nected from public affairs, aloof, unsought, unknown. The 
republican theory looks to the people. The politicians look to 
themselves. Is the republic to prosper ? It must be through 
the people, in the selection by them of the ablest and best. No 
honorable man can descend to the politics that are needful, now, 
to success. Hence honorable men are not in office, except occa- 
sionally, and then by accident.* Alas, the popular negligence ! 

* "SVe never had greater men in science, in learning, in art ; we never had greater 
lawyers, or greater merchants, or greater engineers. Evidently, therefore, the 
problem to be solved is not. why men of large capacity have failed us, but why 
such men are so apt to turn aside from politics, and devote themselves to other 
piu'suits. It is because the new doctrines and new policies have had the effect 
to make an enlightened and experienced statesmanship a disqualification for the 
highest offices in the national government. Not the tittest, but the most avail- 
able candidate is sought for, one who will revive no grudges, awaken no jeal- 
ousies, a new man, and, above all, a man Avho is not a power in himself. Thus 
all the candidates educated for the place are passed over ; and what is worse a 
policy is inaugurated which makes it certain that soon no such candidates will 
be left. Hence the answer to the oft repeated question, by which it is thought 
to silence complaints against official incompetency. "Where can you find better 
men ? AVhere, indeed ! You can find good men and great men ; but why 
wonder that you cannot find great statesmen, men educated and trained for 
public life — men who have already won the public confidence, and whose names 
are in everybody's mouth — why wonder that this is impossible, when you 
have been pursuing for years a course which has made it impossible. — James 
Walker, D. D. 

Whilst the natural instincts of democracy induce the people to reject distin- 
guished citizens as their rulers, an instinct not less strong induces able men to 
retire from the political arena, in which it is so difficult to retain their indepen- 
dence or to advance without becoming servile. — " Democracy in America," by 
De Tocqueville. 



24 

But the people of New Hampshire, in this prevalent negli- 
gence, b}^ no means present an especial remissness. The evil 
is general throughout the republic. The little state of Rhode 
Island stands badly distinguished. She gave us a Simmons. 
No doubt she knew him ; and knowing him well she ought to 
have kept him away from the Senate. But it is more than 
likely that the interests of self, with a leading few, if not with 
the mass, discovered in him the facile means of its own especial 
achievements. He was, no doubt, the manufacturers' man; 
moreover, a manipulator, keen and accomplished, in the sinuous 
and selfish means of the " tariflfs," wiiich were held as essential 
to Rhode Island " interests." But the man who can be used as 
the tool of a class, in clear abnegation of the common good, 
may be capable, also, of serving himself in outrage of common 
honesty and honor. The result so proved, A sworn legislator, 
in the highest relation, this senator's service was due to the 
country. He gave that service in her hour of peril — he gave 
that service to himself. He sold his aid against the treasury. 
He accepted money. * 

With us our organization of party is a conspiracy for the success of medi- 
ocrity. Strong men, men of decided ability or strength of character, are not 
available, -which means that the -wire-pullers cannot mould, turn, t-wist, or hood- 
whik them at pleasure. — New York Conunercial Advertiser, Jimed, 1864. 



* We ought to learn fi-om our enemies. De Tocqueville says : — 

" Men -will not receive truth from their enemies, and it is very seldom offered 

to them by their friends." 

" The majority lives in the perpetual utterance of self applause ; and there 

are certain truths -which the Americans can only learn from strangers or from 

experience." — Boston Weekly Courier, March 17, 1864. 

The whole history of our former association with the Northern States admon- 
ishes us that in a common government they will never fail to employ their 
power to take away our property. Their present malice springs chiefly from 
baffled cupidity. But for this master passion of their natiire, an honorable and 
speedy peace would be easy. — The Assembly of Virginia to the Virginia Soldiers. 

The Richmond Enquirer thus responds to the peace propositions of Cox, the 
democratic congressman from Ohio : " The seductive song of the impassioned 
swain means, Help us, Carolina, to a democratic ticket for next Congress, and 
you shall have part of the stealings. Have we not always, oh child of the sun ! 
lived and loved and stolen together ? How often have our hands met in the 
pocket of the same innocent public, and fondly pressed one another ! Without 



25 

It was a case of dishonor that concerned Rhode Island. Has 
she ever revealed her sense of his conduct, and of her own 
negligence, in a manner indicative of thorough reform? No, 
never. The ways of dishonor are but the common ways in the 
relations of politics and government. They fail to alarm us. 
The self-constituted influences that control our elections still 
continue in being. They are permitted still. They organize 
action and accomplish their ends, with scarcely a reference to 
the popular sense, which, in the passing times, from the popular 



our dear South the democrats can plunder no more ! "Without thee that once 
imterrified party pines in isolation and despair ; it is one blade of a pair of 
scissors ; it is the half of a hook and eye. So sings the swain of Ohio. Will 
Carolina hearken to the gay seducer ? " — Springfield Republican, March 17, 1863. 
In reading the accounts of what is said and done at the South, I am not 
offended. I can hardly say I am disappointed at the courage and constancy 
manifested amidst great sacrifices and privations, for what they have been made 
to believe is right. These are qualities which I can admire even in a foe. Eut 
I am filled with mingled sorrow, disgust, and dismay, when I see the false views 
and intense hate entertained there against the Free State?, not merely by the 
principal actors in the rebellion, but by clergymen and women, — many of them 
our own brothers and sisters, and children, our own flesh and blood. Never- 
theless we must be just. I do not ascribe this unnatural and unrighteous alien- 
ation of the Southern mind to a spontaneous movement among the people, nor 
to the legitimate working of our institutions. It is the accursed fruit of the 
irresponsible, underground machinations of the leaders of party. — James 
Walker, D. D. 

It would be well if we knew how much of the southern hatred towards us, 
indeed, how much of the war, comes from a view of the venal baseness, and 
general meanness, which, through the popular negligence, have misrepresented 
the North at AVashington ; and especially from the strenuous persistence of many 
in selfish and oppressive tariffs. Have we sent men who, in the interests of 
class, pushed the South to the extreme of endurance ? Have the people surren- 
dered the broad prerogatives of a national patriotism to the narrowness of class 
and self — through the agency of men of the stamp of Simmons ? Is it strange, 
then, that the South hates us ? 

. The exposure of senator Simmons, of which we give the evidence in another 
column, is exciting a great deal of mdiguation at Washington, and will have the 
same effect all over the country. People have not forgotten that he has been 
engaged in other trading speculations. His notorious schooner load of yankee 
notions, stopped on their way to Port Royal, has been newly brought before the 
country of late, by a demand of Mr. Simmons for payment, on the plea of 
damages done by the Secretary of the Treasury in arresting that commercial 
venture. But he is better known at Washington by the manner in which he 
has persistently urged trade legislation to benefit himself. He is largely inter- 
ested in manufactures of a peculiar kind, and it is notorious that he has been 
the uncea-ing advocate, iir his place in Congress, of duties whose direct effect 
was to enrich him and the manufacturing company with which he is connected, 
at the expense of the country. — New York Evening Post. 
4 



26 

Nor is negligence the lowest vice of our practice. A popular 
venalitj is sometimes manifest. There are men in high positions 
of government whose distinctive means of success is money; 
and Rhode Island is the State, of the New England States, of 
which allegations of baseness are made in the debauchments of 
money at the polls. Mr. Sprague had wealth. The political 
managers found, it is said, that witli him and his money freely 
applied, they could oust an existing State regime. Mr. Sprague 
was willing. His money abounded. He was elected Governor; 
and thence, without any strength distinctive, in the relations of 
talent and worth, he was elected to the United States Senate. 
Alas, Rhode Island! Her people, careless, if not debauched, 
are untrue to the cause of the country.* 



* The Brookl^jTi Ea^le thus daguerreotypes Senator Sprague : 
wealth, which they would gladly spend to oain DosiHon At -f .f ' °^ '?^* 

closed purse was opened, and with great generosity his rnP,lr.f ' ^°i'°- 

the Pri:.ce of Wales that if he would^isit KToTelland h^ shoufd beC""f -^ ^° 
hke a prmce, and in a peculiarly reckless manner ^^ entertamed 

" He was chosen Senator with but little trouble althni.o-lT h^ , 
required age. Indeed, we doubt if he is yet oM enough f tvf. ' •''°* °^ ^^^ 
wdl take his seat at the approaching session He ^1 Sake no sjeech^'^ "J' 
neither writes nor talks ; he will no! contribute to the di^t, orthTsen^^^^^^^ f" ^ 
andTe ; \T\ """^ ^P^^P°T^«i"g in appearance ; he will Jote re'iflX'f l\^ 
and he wil always regret that he forsook his conc-enial factorv ?v .! ^i' , 

a mark and could hold his own with the best of t W f. Idctoiy, ^^ here he made 
legislators whom he can neither ^ucnce 2 oi^^^^^^^^^^^ 
Arffus, Nov. 17,1863. Lujnprenena. — Albajiy Atlas and 

I'he democrats made a show of nommating a ticket but not n.„.i • 
for It, and the only interest m the election was in the ^^1?^,,?.!!^^°^"^^ 
elect a U S. Senator in place of Mr. Anthony Governor Wh''''' '' ,*° 
place, and so does Mr. Anthony, and the split has become n,^^ • ^^""^^ *^'^ 
yet quite certain how it will come out llhod Wandr aTmaff T.' ' T \^' 
pohtiesseemtobe no purer there than in largtr s'ttt^ VnTi^ 'ffcfthf rich 



27 

It is not my purpose to go out of New England, in pursuit of 
illustrative incidents. It were enough to attend to ourselves; 
though, possibly, incidents more palpaljly flagrant, at least in 
their ordinary features, might be readily adduced fiom abroad. 
Indeed, a Cameron's name might be brought forward, and pre- 
sented in connection with a line of achievements unsurpassed in 
the history of self. It is scarcely needful. He is familiarly 
known. We recently saw him in the acme of assurance, when 
we were told he aspired to the Vice President's place, through 
the next Presidential election. Persuasive statesman I Badly 
off as we are in the relations of vice, we may yet look in pity 
on poor Pennsylvania, in view of her subjection, through polit- 
ical wiles, to the bestowal of Simon Cameron ; for he was the 
bearer to President Lincoln of her legislative proceedings, 
engrossed on parchment, in behalf of his second election. Poor 
sons of Penn ! What stronger evidence were it possible to 
afford, if not of ignorance and immorality, at least of the gross- 
est political negligence, than the continued sway of Cameron ? * 

politicians have more chance of buying a good place. Senator Spraguc had no 
difficulty in stepping into his present place from the Governorship, and now 
Smith wants to play the same game, and if he buys up a few more newsjiapers 
may succeed. — Springfield Republican, April 9, 1864. 

* Resolved, That Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War, by investing Alexan- 
der Cummings with the control of large sums of the public money, and authority 
to purchase military supplies, without restriction, without requiring from him 
any guarantee for the faitliful performance of his duties, Avhen the services of 
competent public officers were available, and by involving the Government in a 
vast number of contracts with persons not legitimately engaged m the business 
pertaining to the subject matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of 
arms for future delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public 
service, and deserves the censure of the House. Resolution passed by a Republi- 
can House of Tlepresentatives. 

Mr. Camel-on was rewarded by the mission to llussia. — Albany Atlas and 
Argus, Oct. 30, 1862. 

T. J. Boyer, a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, publishes a circumstan- 
tial statement of the attempt of Simon Cameron to buy his vote for the United 
States senatorship. Boyer feigned to enter into the arrangement and was 
promised ,f 20,000 for his vote, the money being placed in the hands of a third 
person, a Mr. Patterson. The original idea of Cameron was to hire three demo- 
cratic members to stay away from their seats, and so give him an accidental 
majority, but Boyer, whose real object was to defeat Cameron, objected to any 
dicker with any other member, as his vote for Cameron would accomplish the ob- 
ject. Boyer says that as soon as Mr. Cameron supposed the business was settled, 



LiBRftRY u^ 



012 028 365 f 

28 

"We may turn from abroad ; we may recur to ourselves. 

Massachusetts sends Henry Wilson to the Senate. Osten- 
sibly she sends him. But really he secures the position himself. 
Massachusetts essentially abides in negligence. She is amused, 
it is true. She accepts asseverations, steady and strong, in 
opposition to American slavery. She permits herself to be plied 
witii those ; and she permits, therewith, the application of tac- 
tics to tiic general control of her political affairs in whatever 
relates to place and spoils. She permits the rule of mere poli- 
ticians, of whom Mr. Wilson is the veriest chief Foregoing 
honor, foregoing patriotism — foregoing both as she foregoes vigil- 
ance — slie permits the achievements of self 

The author of this essay, some years ago, in the legitimate 
pursuit of political affairs, was brought in contact with Henry 
Wilson ; and for several years, in matters of politics, was neces- 
sarily familiar, not inconsiderably, with his general tactics and 
practical measures. He saw his modes of success ; and, seeing 
his modes, he was led to observe, with a degree of distrust, 
his -bearing in official position. Regarding the public acts 
ofofficials as suitable subjects of popular comment, he reduced 
his observations, for a limited space, at an eventful period in 
American affairs, to the form of a public letter. He offered that 
letter to the press. It was withheld for the time. As a 
part of this essay, in a future number, he intends to present it 
to the public. It may serve in illustrating the American states- • 
man of the modern type, in the full fruition of modern modes. 
It may serve in presenting Oulf*" Political Practice; and, hence, 
our need of reform. 

he threw himself upon the bed and exclaimed, "I shall be senator. I will then 
be the most powerful man in America. These southern people will gain their 
independence. We will have a northern republic, and with the aid of the 'New 
England states govern matters pretty much as we like." Mr. lioyer seems to 
tell a straightforward story, and there is nothing in Mr. Cameron's case that 
renders it improbable. — Springjicld Republican, Jan. 26, 18G3. 

END OP PART FIRST. 




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